Defensively, the Canucks played like they did early in the season, when they were giving up far too many high-quality scoring chances.

“We had a lot of odd-man rushes tonight,” Daniel said. “I can’t even count on two hands how many odd-man rushes they had. Against this team, too, they are so quick. We had too many turnovers and it was just sloppy overall.

“I don’t think we worked hard enough, that is the bottom line. That’s why maybe it looked like it was a wide-open game. It comes down to us, not getting pucks deep to sustain pressure on their guys. When we got pucks deep we were a step behind all the time. It just wasn’t good enough.”

There was no argument from Vancouver coach John Tortorella, who could see that trouble was brewing early. Tortorella burned his timeout before the game was 10 minutes old to try and light a fire under his team.

“He assessed it correctly,” was Tortorella’s reaction to Daniel’s suggestion that this was Vancouver’s worst game of the season “You could see right away that we were just out of sync. I could just feel it.

“That's a team effort; it is our worst game of the year. We deserved to lose that one and we did.

“I just think it was a game we looked out of sorts, out of sync. It wasn't just one particular guy, it was the whole team. It's in the trash can already. We have a couple of days to regroup and get ready for a pretty stiff test coming up here.”

Nikita Kucherov scored the winner on a Tampa Bay power play with three seconds left in the second period .

“That late goal just kind of sums up the night,” said winger Zac Dalpe, who scored his first goal as a Canuck. “We were fighting it. Some nights you fight the puck, it bounces early and you kind of get worn down.

“It was a weird game, I thought all day we had emotion and then we came out and a couple of bad plays maybe got us a little bit frustrated.”

Centre Alex Killorn iced things at 7:28 of the third period when he tipped a Victor Hedman point shot past Vancouver goalie Eddie Lack.

The Canucks have now lost two in a row and wasted a chance to climb over the Los Angeles Kings in the Western Conference standings. Vancouver remains sixth in the West with a record of 23-12-7.

“It was very disappointing,”said Canuck captain Henrik Sedin. “Execution was off and when that happens it looks like you are not working hard enough. But I think we just made too many mistakes. We had to work way too hard. You have to keep it simple and that is when good things happen. We turned over way too many pucks over tonight.”

The Canucks had trouble handling Tampa Bay’s speed.

“Their record says it all,” Daniel said. “It's a quick team; that's what stood out to me. They're very quick on pucks and if you're not ready, they're going to get a lot of 3-on-2s and 2-on-1s and that's what happened tonight.”

After a scoreless first period, the goals came in bunches in the second.

Centre Brad Richardson opened scoring at the 11:25 mark, beating Tampa goalie Ben Bishop high short side from the left circle.

But the Lightning scored two goals 20 seconds apart to grab the lead. Valtteri Filppula beat Lack short side with a wrist shot at 15:27. Tyler Johnson quickly followed as he finished off a 2-on-1 rush with Ondrej Palat.

But the Canucks answered with a fourth-line goal just 14 seconds later to briefly tie the game when Dalpe converted a pass from Dale Weise at 16:01.

“I think it was just a good forecheck, a typical fourth-line goal,” Dalpe said.

The Lightning regained the lead with three seconds left in the third as they scored on the power play. With Yannick Weber off for hooking, Kucherov put a shot over sprawled Vancouver defenceman Dan Hamhuis and beat Lack hight to the short side.

Earlier Wednesday, Vancouver centre Ryan Kesler was officially named to the U.S. Olympic team “Obviously I am excited and honoured and it is going to be a special experience for me,” Kesler said after the game. “I am looking forward to it.”

Kesler, like many of his teammates, did not have a great game Wednesday. He was on the ice for all four Tampa goals and did not have a shot on goal.

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